Glen began his job search. Since G&K sold to a competitor shortly after we began our mission, he no longer had that option available to him.
He had a video job interview set one day and got prepared to wow them--from the waist up!
We were super busy with moving in, getting everything organized, kids, grandkids, home improvement projects, yard work, etc. those first few weeks we were home. But, we always take the time to go to the temple at least once a week.
It is fun for us to go to the Ogden Temple as that is where we were married. Well, not exactly the same building... It was the original one back in 1978, not this newer one.
It might not be the same edifice, but it is the same location, and that makes us happy.
After the session, I was feeling the pull to go see Nani. Her endodontist office is not far from the temple and I hadn't yet seen her since arriving home. She was surprised to see us!
The morning routine with Sarah's four little boys in the house always started with breakfast.
One morning Jonah was getting all worked up about what happened the day before when Sarah sent him and his brothers outside to play on the trampoline. Jonah was the only one who obediently went right outside and the door was shut behind him.
He came face to face with a deer in the back yard and it scared him to death!
He would become very animated and would even shake with fear whenever the word deer would come up after that. During breakfast he was again expressing his extreme dislike for that particular four-legged animal.
This particular morning, besides getting a "kick" out of Jonah's pose for the photo, Sarah was a rock star mom as she made pancakes for her boys. She was starving and could not eat, but there she was cooking up a hot meal for her four sons.
The reason she couldn't eat was she had been going through her liquid diet/laxative cleanse the day before in preparation for her colonoscopy. After breakfast we took the boys to Rebecca's house to play and went to the colonoscopy center.
One might wonder why such a young woman was having a colonoscopy...?
The reason is Glen's family has a history of colon cancer. His mom's brothers had colon cancer. His brother Don had colon cancer at the age of 47. When Glen went to be checked the first time, he had polyps.
Because of that, our children have been urged to start getting colonoscopies in their 20s. Some have heeded that advice, others haven't. Take for instance this child. She opted out of the procedure until now--a decade later than recommended.
She had a bit of a fidgeting fit during the insertion of the IV line. (Takes after her mother in her extreme dislike of that part of any procedure or surgery!!!) The rest of the procedure seemed like nothing after that.
They wheeled her away and a short time later she was wheeled back into the recovery room. She awoke with this question for the nurse, "Did you see any almonds in there?" She wasn't supposed to eat nuts in the days leading up to the procedure and had inadvertently eaten something with almonds in it and was paranoid about it messing up her innards for the scoping.
Another favorite question she had for everyone was "Did I have a good cleanse?" She needed several medical affirmations that her efforts were noteworthy and she had a pristine colon for the procedure.
The doctor affirmed she did a good prep job as he had been able to see and remove several polyps--one of which was 10 mm. He seemed very impressed with the size of that thing in a 31-year-old patient.
He then turned to me and told me I had better get in for a colonoscopy if I have produced a child with a polyp of that size at such a young age. HELLO!!!???!!! It's her father that is passing on the colon polyp genes to her--not her mother!! I was clean at my last colonoscopy.
It was so nice having Sarah around as she was always cooking up a storm. We happily ate the taquitos she was fixing for her boys one evening.
Sarah was on a baking rampage many days as she was trying to bake enough different kinds of cookies for us to never run out at our upcoming Sunday when we would be hosting lots of family, friends and missionaries here for a luncheon after we did our speaking in church.
We quickly discovered the intense love Jonah has for sports, particularly for baseball. With a baseball cap on his head, a wooden spoon quickly transformed into a bat. As a 2-year-old, he has the perfect stance--every time.
We didn't have a baseball, but he didn't mind using a little plastic football instead. And he surprised us by being able to make contact with the makeshift "baseball." What a little slugger!!
Before our mission, we used to love going to the free concerts in the Brigham Young Park in Salt Lake City that are held on Tuesdays and Fridays during the summer months.
We had missed them, so one evening we decided to take a break from all our working and go to the concert. We were happy we did as the elementary school-aged children performing were amazingly wonderful.
We were getting a kick out of one of the boy performers. He reminded us a bit of Newland and thought about how our grandson would look and act if he were up on stage playing a violin.
It could happen. Klarissa plays the violin. Maybe it's in his blood to learn that instrument. Right now, though, he's working on learning how to play the piano.
Rebecca, Sarah and I went to a baby shower for my niece Cheryl (Mike's daughter).
Little did she know that a few weeks later she would labor for hours upon hours only to end up having a C section. Her daughter Charlotte Zaetell Martinez Ward was born weighing nearly 10 lbs. WOW!!
Another evening when Sarah was busy with friends, we took a break from all our yard and home improvement projects and went on a date to Salt Lake City. We ate dinner at the Blue Lemon at City Creek Center
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Then we went to a free concert in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.
You just can't beat the price of these concerts, and the atmosphere is always uplifting and relaxing--and rejuvenating for us as we rested our weary bodies.
